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Last year, the British government rejected pleas to grant the trio a posthumous royal pardon, forcing campaigners to turn their attention to systems of redress under Australian law.

Several descendants of the men have recently sent letters to Robert McClelland, the Australian Attorney General, demanding that he open an independent inquiry into the convictions.

In one letter, Beverly Little said the execution of her great-grandfather Peter Handcock had caused her family great hardship.

“My family and I and our future generations would very much like closure, as the history of our family will always be marred by this wrongful sentencing and execution,” she wrote.

“It is and will always remain a significant loss and injustice to our family”.

James Unkles, a military lawyer, is coordinating the campaign. He claims to have evidence that will prove the men were denied a fair trial under the military law of the time.

He also claims to have proof, including a British parliamentary transcript, that Lord Kitchener instructed his soldiers in South Africa to take no prisoners.

His dossier of evidence has been reviewed by barrister David Denton SC, who also believes that serious errors of law mean their convictions were not legally sound.

Mr Unkles said the British government had tried to make the case go away because it was “embarrassed” by the string of legal errors and cover-ups.

“There was a miscarriage of justice, it doesn’t matter if it was 109 years ago or one year ago, what makes us a civilised society is our ability to right our wrongs. Three Australians have gone down in history as rapists and murderers when we have compelling evidence that they were not.”

Mr Unkles said he was hopeful that the Attorney General would agree to open a judicial inquiry in Australia but if he did not then the next step would be an appeal in the British High Court against the original court martial.

The colourful and tragic story of Breaker Morant has captured the imagination of generations of Australians and Britons and in 1980 was made into a film of that name starring the late Woodward.

Morant was born in Somerset in 1864 and moved to Australia when he was 19, finding fame as a horse-breaker, drover and poet in the 1890s.

He earned a reputation as a charming scoundrel, but also a heavy drinker and a womaniser.

When war broke out in South Africa he volunteered to fight with the English against the Boers.

His execution by firing squad remains one of the most controversial chapters in Australia’s military history.